System and Method for Arbitrating Lock Screen Surface Access Among Competing Vendor Applications on a Mobile Device

A method for managing competing access to a lock screen surface of a mobile device, comprising:

• broadcasting, by a first vendor application executing on a mobile device, a request message to one or more other vendor applications executing on the mobile device, wherein the request message indicates an intent by the first vendor application to occupy the lock screen surface of the mobile device;
• receiving, by a second vendor application executing on the mobile device, the request message;
• determining, by the second vendor application, that the second vendor application currently holds the lock screen surface of the mobile device;
• transmitting, by the second vendor application, a blocked message to the first vendor application when the second vendor application currently holds the lock screen surface of the mobile device;
• transmitting, by the second vendor application, a completion message to the first vendor application upon the second vendor application relinquishing the lock screen surface of the mobile device;
• rebroadcasting, by the first vendor application, the request message to the one or more other vendor applications upon receipt of the completion message;
• and
• presenting, by the first vendor application, content on the lock screen surface of the mobile device upon expiration of a threshold time period following the rebroadcasting of the request message.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive, by a second vendor application executing on a mobile device, a request message broadcast by a first vendor application executing on the mobile device, wherein the request message indicates an intent by the first vendor application to occupy a lock screen surface of the mobile device;
• transmit, by the second vendor application, a blocked message to the first vendor application upon a determination that the second vendor application currently holds the lock screen surface of the mobile device;
• and
• transmit, by the second vendor application, a completion message to the first vendor application upon the second vendor application relinquishing the lock screen surface of the mobile device, wherein the first vendor application is configured to rebroadcast the request message upon receipt of the completion message and to present content on the lock screen surface of the mobile device upon expiration of a threshold time period following the rebroadcasting of the request message.